What Moved Me: March 2026
Catching up on the books, music, podcasts, and other things that I've loved lately
Please enjoy this monthly round up of the books I’ve read, the music I’ve listened to, the podcasts I’ve binged, and a few other things I’m loving.
As always, this monthly offering is free. I love sharing the things I love, especially books. However, if you value what I share here on What Moves You, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Financial support makes it possible for me to do this work.
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Let’s start with the books:
I read 4 books this month: Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr, The Family by Naomi Krupitsky.
I really, really wanted to love Our Wives Under the Sea. It got rave reviews on Bookworm (what I use to track the books I read instead of GoodReads). And I love a sapphic story. But I didn’t love it.
I found the premise compelling — one of the women, Leah, is a marine biologist and goes on a submarine mission and there’s a tragic accident. The submarine inexplicably sinks, leaving her wife to believe she is dead. Leah miraculously returns, 5 months after the accident. But Leah is changed by her traumatic experience and her wife, Miri, is left to try and care for Leah as she dissolves and disappears into her post-submarine existence.
The book is fuzzy on details and low on plot. It’s a fairly short book, just over 200 pages, but somehow it took me 2 weeks to read. The story meanders and it’s hard to tell, at least until 2/3 of the way through if this is meant to be fiction or fantasy.
There is one sentence that has stuck with me: “panic is a misuse of oxygen.” It still lands weeks after finishing the book.
There are so many loose threads at the end that never get tied up, which makes the ending a bit unsatisfying. All of that said, I think it’s a poignant story and if you have the patience for ephemera and a narrative that rambles along rather than drives, you might enjoy this book more than I did.
*****
It took me several chapters to adjust to the writing style of Get a Life, Chloe Brown, but once I did, I absolutely tore through the book gleefully.
Chloe is a web designer with a chronic illness (fibromyalgia), which came out of nowhere in her twenties and short circuited her life. Fibromyalgia is a chronic illness that is still somewhat confounding to doctors and scientists, but what we know is that folks with fibromyalgia experience extreme muscle fatigue, severe musculoskeletal pain, and brain fog — not necessarily everyday, but often triggered by various things. Chloe lives with regular pain, so she has largely become housebound after her diagnosis. But a near-death experience causes her to want to live a bigger, more exciting life. So she makes a list and is off to the races…
And of course those races lead her directly to the paint-spattered, muscular arms of Red, who is both the super of her apartment complex and an artist. She enlists him to help her accomplish the tasks on her list. He obliges and shenanigans ensue.
The way Hibbert writes about chronic illness is powerful, but especially in how Red is horrified by how people have treated Chloe due to her fibromyalgia and is adamant that she deserves care, but not necessarily treated as though she is fragile.
Their inner monologues are a treat to read, especially once they recognize the attraction they have to one another. Highly recommend this one for a quick, sexy read.
*****
Reading The Goddess of Warsaw was equal parts devastating and thrilling. It’s a little bit 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and a little bit The World That We Knew (Alice Hoffman) and a little bit of the Black Widow marvel movie (which is honestly my favorite).
I don’t often read Holocaust novels. I feel them in my bones and my blood and I see my children in every single child starved, every child rounded up and sent to camps, every child shot in the head simply for being Jewish. I have visceral nightmares during the nights I read them.
I loved this book despite that. We start in 2006 and Lena Browning is meeting with a younger actress who wants to tell the story of Lena’s life — and of course act in it, as Lena. But Lena has been keeping huge secrets ever since arriving in Hollywood, not the least of which is that she is Jewish. Before landing in America post-war, Lena was Bina Blonski a Jewish actress. She was active in the resistance in WW2 Poland because she happened to look Aryan (tall, willowy, blonde) and could play various parts to achieve goals like smuggling weapons, food, and bomb supplies into the Warsaw Ghetto.
Much of the book takes place in the month before the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and it’s deeply harrowing. Some of the book takes place in the 1950’s when Bina has become Lena and is already a huge Hollywood star. And a small portion of the book takes place in 2006.
The ending was deeply satisfying, if just slightly unrealistic. But that didn’t diminish the book for me in the slightest. This was a powerful, painful, beautiful, and brutal book. I could not put it down.
*****
I do not typically enjoy mafia books. So I sort of picked up The Family against my will, but I was curious because it was from the perspective of 2 daughters born into “The Family” who are as close as sisters. Plus it was written by another Naomi.
I liked this one. I finished it more quickly than I expected to. The authors writing style is interesting. Everything is 3rd person and from multiple perspectives that often switch even within a chapter. Their insights feel both intimate and also oddly muted, almost as though you’re watching someone narrate these inner thoughts while people act them out onstage.
We watch Sofia and Antonia from when they are small, 6 or 7. There is a devastating loss that creates the first fracture in their friendship. As the girls get older, they are pulled apart and pulled back together like the tides.
This book is set in Brooklyn, from the mid 1920’s through the late 1940’s, so for the second half of the novel, World War 2 plays a large role. One of the characters is Jewish, having fled Germany while his mother stays behind. It’s actually his character that breaks my heart the most.
By the end of the book, I wanted more — in some ways, the ending was abrupt and a little disappointing. Not because it was a bad ending but because it felt like it was the middle of the story and I wanted more time with the characters to see what happened next.
(quick note: all of the links you see in the book review section are affiliate links at Bookshop.org and if you’re thinking about buying any of these, please consider using my links instead of using amazon. For one, I get a tiny commission when you use my links. But also important, bookshop.org directly supports small bookstores, which is of great value to me.)
Things to Watch:
The absolute best thing I watched this month was the new Naked Gun movie with Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. It was hysterically funny. I mean, just utterly absurd. 5 enthusiastic stars.
I’ve also watched a lot of SNL skits because I need more laughter in my life these days.
Things to Listen to:
I am still obsessed with this MUNA song.
But also, my husband listens to the local college radio station and heard this song by a band called Yumi Zouma. He thought I’d love it and he was right:
Also, I love this Kesha song. It’s just so so good — if you’re into fun pop songs, which I absolutely am.
In terms of podcasts, here’s what I’m still thinking about after listening:
I listened to a fantastic episode of Front Page Fitness about New Menopause Research and followed that with a talk here on substack with one of the hosts, Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple and Dr. Jen Gunter. Both podcasts are about the same idea — that a certain menopause influencer is cherry picking data again to sell books and supplements, this time about menopause and metabolism. I am going to write a piece about this topic next week, so stay tuned. But if you’re science and fitness-minded, check out both podcasts on your own.
I’ve largely avoided Ezra Klein since he said that Charlie Kirk did politics the right way — what an idiot. But, he had Naomi Klein on to talk about her work and to share insights into why it’s not a horseshoe but a diagonal line. Even if that doesn’t make sense, go listen to the interview. She’s fantastic.
And I am just finishing another Good Hang episode, this one with Amy interviewing Brandi Carlile, one of my all-time favorite musicians. It’s as delightful as you’d expect.
A bunch of things to read on your phone:
I’m going to be honest…I have not been reading a lot on substack. This month has been so chaotic and busy and exhausting.
I’ve read a few things — I loved the piece that one of my longtime writing heroes, Deborah Copaken wrote, titled A Love Letter to Bridget, My Partner’s Wife. It’s poignant and powerful and likely not what you might expect (particularly in the wake of all of the discourse around Lindy West and her new memoir).
Speaking of Lindy West, it’s like the Elizabeth Gilbert memoir, part 2. Only instead of buying her dying partner drugs, West is grappling with a partner who was dishonest and unfaithful. So actually, in some ways it’s a Glennon Doyle moment, writing a book about loving your partner only to discover he was lying and fucking 2 other women. All of this is to say, there is more to the story and lots of people are making huge assumptions — about polyamory largely, but also about the intimate moments in people’s lives. Anyway, the idea that West is responsible for the downfall of millennial feminism (whatever the f that means) is stupid.
However, there are some fascinating takes online. One I appreciated is by Leigh Stein called I Escaped Bluebeard’s Castle. Lindy West Didn’t. And then there’s the article by Scaachi Koul for Slate, which was fairly measured but elicited responses from Lindy, her husband, and her metamour — the responses from Aham (husband) and Roya (metamour), were particularly bananas. Koul talks about the whole experience on the ICYMI podcast, which is worth a listen if you’re invested in this story.
And still connected to West, I really appreciated Amanda Montei’s take on the Netflix documentary, by Louis Theroux titled Manosphere. Montei ties multiple threads together, including the backlash against West (notably leaving her partners out of it). It’s a really brilliant piece of writing and I need to read it again because it’s just that good. Even though I would deeply appreciate more people paying for a subscription to my substack, I think Montei’s substack is one of the best out there for the money (yes, I am a paid subscriber).
Here’s my latest video on YouTube:
Actually, it’s not my latest. It’s from earlier this month. But it’s one I really love and I think it’s useful, especially if you’re looking for a workout that can either be bodyweight strength OR with weights. It’s a great one for progressing from bodyweight to a weighted workout. AND it’s just 10 minutes long. Give it a watch and maybe share it with friends who want to work out but are starting from zero because it’s a fantastic beginners workout, too.
Oh and here are a few of my favorite moments from March:
One of the few snowy mornings we’ve had this winter, my amazing 13 year old reading Torah for her Bat Mitzvah, our neighborhood red hawk, wearing fancy clothes to walk my dog, a family hike that involved zero meltdowns, nighttime blossoms, and the No Kings March.
*****
That’s it for March from me, but I want to know, what are you loving lately? Hit me with your book recs, music, podcasts, and anything else moving you right now — drop them in the comments!
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